


Now About That Story...

by RaeC



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Humor, M/M, Muses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2000-03-26
Updated: 2000-03-26
Packaged: 2017-11-10 13:32:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/466855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaeC/pseuds/RaeC
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Well the muses got loose, isn't that warning enough? No? How about never let go of a fire hose? It's totally wicked man.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Now About That Story...

~~~

Now about that story....

~~~

Rae closed the door, hiding in her room from the world at large. She put her ear on the door listening for any tell-tale sign of the muses, the child, or the SO. 'Yes', she enthused to herself pumping her fist once by her side. Quietly she tiptoed over to the computer, making sure that the sound was completely off, she turned on the machine. Over the hum of the computer happily warming up, she listened for the muses once more. Nothing.

'Free at last.' With a blissful sigh, she began to download her email. Opening the folder marked 'Watchman' she began to read as the mail continued to pour in.

"What'cha doing?" Two very male voices chorused beside Rae's head. Startled, she nearly fell out of her chair before two sets of hands reached out to steady her.

"Jesus! Give a girl a heart attack why don't you!"

"Sorry." Blair brightly grinned, holding his hands up in the typical placating pose.

"Yeah, right. Tell me another one. And for your information, I'm checking my e-mail." Huffing, Rae mourned the silence that had lasted for barely two minutes. 'Well, there went that break.' Turning back to the screen, a thought occurred to her. "Hey! Aren't you two supposed to be off somewhere working on plot lines or...something?"

"You're on the Watchman's List. Automatically attracts our attention." Jim glanced over at Blair with a wicked gleam in his eye.

Worrying at her lip, she was thinking hard, wondering how she was going to get herself out of the mess brewing on the horizon. "Oh, ah, well then."

"What's this?" Email after email dropped into the inbox, drawing Jim's attention. That meant something was up.

"The list seems to have exploded overnight." Blair added thoughtfully.

"And Rae was surprised to see us."

"And she had the door closed."

"And we were otherwise occupied last night."

"What'd you do?" They both looked at Rae, twin glares of suspicion nailing her to the seat.

Putting on her best innocent expression, "Me? What makes you think _I_ did anything?"

"Oh, please. Give me a little credit here." Blair had his 'do you really think those eyes are going to work with me' face on. Rae, knowing she didn't stand a chance, caved.

"Alright, I, uh, sorta entered into a conversation."

"Conversation? As in?"

"Er, you really don't want to know. Trust me."

"Just spill it."

"Well I was just debating..."

"Debating! Oh man, I thought we got rid of that debate muse." Panicked, Blair turned to Jim. "We've got to hide it again, and quick."

"Well, he was there. I was here. What was I supposed to do? Besides, at least _he_ was whispering sweet nothings into my ear." Rae threw her hands into the air, got up and paced around the room. Of course, leaving the chair vacant wasn't a good idea either. Blair immediately sat down and starting scrolling through the messages.

"I wouldn't," she half warned, half cringed.

"You're logged into 'USPolitics'!" Both muses began talking at once.

"Just how long has he been loose?"

"No more Onelist for you. I'm turning the Family Filter back on."

"Where's Methos?" Jim stalked to the door, throwing it open, muttering under his breath. 'He's dead this time.'

"In the dungeon, but what's he got to do with anything?" Rae was confused. Really confused. Falling back into the chair, Rae waited for the axe to fall.

"Because he's the one that always lets _it_ loose." Blair grabbed him before he made it out the door.

"Jim, Jim, man! Take a deep breath." Blair gently stroked Jim's arm, soothing the tension. "Just relax, Big Guy. We'll get him...later. Much, much later." His words were coated with both honey _and_ vengeance.

"Right." A feral smile lit his face at Blair's words. "Sounds like a plan, buddy."

Meanwhile, Rae had been busy. The muses momentarily distracted had left her alone with the computer, still under the Debate Muse's spell. Her hands were poised over the keyboard, speed reading and then typing furiously, when they realized their mistake.

"Just take it slow and easy." Coaxed Jim.

"We're going to play nice and just walk away." Blair joined in.

"You don't want to do anything stupid."

"Repeat after me, 'I will not go gutter sniping. I will not go gutter sniping. I will not go gutter sniping.'" Blair realized his mistake too late.

"But....snipe hunting can be fun." Rae typed as she spoke, tossing the comment over her shoulder. "Don't you remember the Round Robin?"

Oh this was worse than he thought. She was fandom hopping.

"You mean the one where you sacrificed all those harmless plot bunnies?"

Blair glared in Jim's direction. "You know, you could help here," he whispered.

"Just keep her talking." Jim glared back. "I've got a plan."

Rae went on, oblivious to the undercurrents in the room. She was too deeply involved with reading and responding to the emails flooding in. "Hmm, that wasn't a good example, was it? But you have to admit, it was fun."

"That's so not a good example. We didn't even get top billing!"

"Remove your hands from the keyboard." Jim grabbed her from behind, trying to pull the addicted female away.

"Just. Let. Me. Hit. Send."

"NOW!"

"Okay, okay, okay! I'm backing off. See? Jeez, you guys are just no fun." Rae pouted pushing the chair away from glowing machine. 'Damn muses. Think they own the world.' Sighing, she carefully chose her words for the greatest effect. "Okay, since you guys are so smart...now what am I supposed to do?" Energy flowed through her fingertips and spiked in the room. "See?"

"We'll think of something. Just hang on." She began to pace the room again.

Blair and Jim huddled together talking quietly among themselves. This was bad. Very bad. Loose two, three days at least. Had to stop it, but how? Blair snapped his fingers. Jim nodded, thoughtful. "Might work."

"It'd better." They advanced on Rae.

"Rae," Jim purred. "That story you were working on earlier. Remember, you had Blair in Tennessee, me stuck in Cascade.

"Oh yeah...you _could_ get back to work on that long angsty fic..."

"You mean this one?" Rae reached for the stack of paper next to the computer...

\--

The phone starting ringing as soon as Jim came into the loft. After this last week was it too much to ask for an evening to himself? Dropping his keys into the basket, he reached for the annoying appliance.

"Ellison," he barked. The steady drumming of a familiar heart beat broke through his bad mood. He froze, his jacket half on, half off. Blair.

"Hello to you too, Jim." There was laughter in Blair's voice, but it sounded forced.

"Hey, Chief." His voice softened in apology. "How's it going?" Jim finished taking his jacket off and hung it up on the hook as he talked.

'First time I talk to him in a month and I bite his head off. Great going, Ellison.'

"Good, good. You?"

Jim rubbed his temples, cataloguing every whisper of cloth, soaking up every little noise, down to the tinniest detail. Thousands of tiny strands rasped along Blair's collar as his curls bounced in time with his words. His heartbeat sped up slightly. And Blair was fidgeting in his chair. Things weren't _good_ , but they weren't _bad_. Jim let it slide for now.

"Long week." Jim settled onto the arm of the couch, just listening. The whirl of the laptop idled in the background. The refrigerator hummed. Music played softly in the background. The noise was slightly muted so Blair must have at least settled in somewhat.

Jim breathed in deep, trying to capture the feeling of Blair, there, in the room with him instead of hundreds of miles away. The Blairsmell was almost gone now. One less piece to make himself somehow believe that Blair was still there, the two of them just talking. As each day progressively passed, more and more of Blair slipped away.

"You didn't zone did you? No problems with your senses?"

"No, Sandburg. No problems. Just a long week." A hint of irritation crept in, but still it felt good to hear that low voice filled with concern. He allowed himself one moment to let it wash over him. He could almost see Blair sitting in the loft, the evening just coming on, fixing all his attention on Jim, just because he said something was wrong. But no, Blair was in another state, a beer in one hand and the phone in the other. He could hear the liquid rolling around in the bottle, so Blair must be rocking it back and forth on his knee. Was it the one curled up under his body, or the other?

"So..." Jim didn't know what to say.

"So..." Blair's window was open, the curtains fluttering in the evening breeze. Cars were rolling by the building at about thirty. And this conversation was going nowhere fast. He needed Blair here to help him fill in the silence.

"Just thought I'd call, ya know? Said I would after I got settled in." He heard Blair get up and wander around the room. 'Small place.' he noted as the sounds from the window and the refrigerator met and parted.

"It's been almost a week, Chief."

"How's what's her name, Casey, Cassie, Carrie?" Nice try, Sandburg. You know her name just fine.

"It's Carrie and not bad. It's going."

"Serious?"

"I don't know. Maybe." The awkward silences were getting longer and longer. When did they get so far apart?

"Yeah, well...I've got more stuff to get unpacked."

"Okay. Talk to you later then."

"Okay, bye."

'Miss you. Come home.' Jim wanted to say, but Blair had already hung up.

\--

"That's the one! So now about that story..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah...you and every other muse in this house. I swear that's all I hear. 'Now, about that story...'"

<sigh>


End file.
